David "Mudcat" Saunders, Here's a political adverser I can live with-

[asdjrocky]

From Mens Vogue:

For the whole interview check the link, this is one of my favorite parts.

http://www.mensvogue.com/business/politics/interviews/articles/2007/06/david_mudcat_saunders?currentPage=1

David Saunders, a wiry, chain-smoking, 59-year-old adviser to Democratic presidential aspirant John Edwards, is as bald and blunt as Edwards is coiffed and controlled. Known by his backwoods nickname, "Mudcat," he's a self-described "rural liaison" who is helping Edwards craft a populist message of economic equality for "Bubba," that catchall for the traditional white, male voter living in rural America. In real time, that means Saunders, a native of Roanoke County, Virginia, can put John Edwards on a stage next to bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley while reminding voters that Democrats like guns, too. With consultant Steve Jarding, Saunders co-authored the 2006 book Foxes in the Henhouse: How the Republicans Stole the South and the Heartland and What the Democrats Must Do to Run 'em Out. Having helped Mark Warner get elected as Governor of Virginia in 2001 (in part by concocting a bluegrass jingle for his campaign), he used some of the same populist themes to aid Jim Webb's successful 2006 bid for senator.

Saunders insists that John Edwards is the one presidential hopeful who can get through to "the culture" because he's from rural North Carolina. Edwards loves his own "people," Saunders says. But is that enough to win over culturally conservative white men who've been voting Republican for 30 years?

MEN'S VOGUE: Some people give Edwards grief because he's rich and he wants to talk about the poor.

SAUNDERS: Oh, I've gotten that for sure. It's like Harry Truman said, "The president of the United States is the lobbyist for the regular people." It drives me berserk when someone says that Johnny's a wuss or something. Let me tell you something, John Edwards is one tough son of a bitch.

MEN'S VOGUE: Did you have a fight with him or something?

SAUNDERS: No, I just know him. Look at his track record. He's born poor as a church mouse. And his dad works up a little bit so by the time he gets out of school, he's pretty much middle class even though he didn't have much. So he decides he's going to earn a football scholarship at Clemson University, so he goes down there and he's one of these Rudy guys and he gets the absolute dog crap beat out of him. The guy is quicker than a hiccup, he really is, but he weighed a hundred and nothing and they beat the hell out of him. And he did that for a year, and at the end of the year they said no scholarship is coming, so he transferred to NC State. Then he starts his career as a trial lawyer and he immediately takes on the biggest, toughest, baddest legal firms in America and whips their asses taking up for little people. You don't do that unless you're tough. And I will say this: I'd hate to fight him cause you'd have to kill him, because he would fight you to the last second. I want that toughness in my president, because we can't win on a freakin' haircut.

Another favorite clip,

MEN'S VOGUE: What convinced you that Edwards meant it?

SAUNDERS: I know the guy. God, I've known him since December of 2001. Johnny's one of the most misportrayed people in the history of American politics.

MEN'S VOGUE: Why?

SAUNDERS: In 1980, one percent of the people made eight percent of the money, now one percent of the people makes more than 20 percent of the money. Disparity is at an all-time high. And it pisses me off that anytime anybody asks a question about John Edwards and his strong beliefs on economic fairness, everybody talks about how he isn't qualified to talk about it because he has a highfalutin haircut and lives in a high-powered house. What they're saying is only the uneducated can talk about education, only the sick can talk about health care. That's how ludicrous that whole mindset is.

[waiting for hope]

1. I like this guy:

"You don't do that unless you're tough. And I will say this: I'd hate to fight him cause you'd have to kill him, because he would fight you to the last second. I want that toughness in my president, because we can't win on a freakin' haircut."

[K Gardner]

2. See, now this makes sense. How do you work to prepare a REAL campaign geared toward

REAL people with REAL issues... you freakin hire a good ole' boy to keep you on the down and gritty. You couldn't even pay a rural southern man to say something like this: " And I will say this: I'd hate to fight him cause you'd have to kill him, because he would fight you to the last second." Says a lot about Edwards.

Or, you could hire Karl Rove's twin.

Thanks for the link, Rocky :-)

[asdjrocky]

3. Yeah, ya gotta like this guy.

Happy to help.

[Mojambo]

4. He's like the anti-Mark Penn. n/t

[K Gardner]

5. LOL! Perfect moniker :-) n/t

[asdjrocky]

6. Very funny. nt

[Stinky The Clown]

7. I like Mudcat, too

I suspect he's way too conservative for lots of people around here, however.

[tularetom]

8. I'm a white male voter living in rural America

I'm a democrat and I "like guns" (or at least I own a few).

I like bluegrass too.

But I'm not sure I like this guy. What works in Virginia may or may not work in a national campaign.

[Catchawave]

10. He addresses that in the article :)

There's 5 pages worth of "Mudcatisms" :hi:

[Kucinich4America]

9. I don't like this guy at all

I remember he was on some show in early 2004 (the Tweety Matthews show, I think) and he was just bashing the shit out of Howard Dean for no other reason except apparently trying to sound like even more of an obnoxious DLC asswipe than Carville. He turned my stomach.

[maximusveritas]

11. He's one of those who blames the "liberal elitists" for the party's problems

I don't like him one bit.

Here's what he said when defending Joe Klein, the worm over at Time Inc:

"I have bitched and moaned for years about the lack of tolerance in the elitist wing of the Democratic Party, or what I refer to as the "Metropolitan Opera Wing". These are the people who talk of tolerance but the only true tolerance they ever exhibit is for their own pseudo-intellectual arrogance.

In his column, Joe said, "...the smart stuff is being drowned out by a fierce, bullying, often witless tone of intolerance that has overtaken the left-wing sector of the blogosphere." Amen. I must add that this same intellectual arrogance and intolerance overtook the party years ago, and for that very reason, my people in rural America left the tent."


The first response to Mudcat was perfect:
"Welcome to Swampland you ignorant hillbilly."